Currently, cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex remains the sole claimant for compensation related to the hack that occurred in 2016, in which 119,754 BTC were stolen. According to court documents, the US government confirmed that it is unaware of any other parties entitled to compensation but will proceed cautiously to ensure no potential victims are overlooked.

After the hack, Bitfinex distributed the losses among its users, resulting in their balances being reduced by approximately 36%. As compensation, affected users were issued BFX tokens, which could be sold on the market, bought back at a fixed rate of $1, or exchanged for shares in the parent company, iFinex. All BFX tokens were fully redeemed within eight months.

Potential victims

Despite Bitfinex’s efforts to compensate the damages, US authorities acknowledged that there could be “thousands of account holders” who lost funds as a result of the hack. To assist these users, the government proposed creating a special website where potential victims could file claims and receive up-to-date information.

Accused in the hack

In 2022, US authorities arrested two individuals involved in the Bitfinex hack — 34-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein and 31-year-old Heather Morgan. Over 94,000 BTC were seized from them, worth approximately $3.6 billion at the time of confiscation. It was later revealed that investigators tracked down the criminals after the closure of the dark web marketplace AlphaBay in 2017.

The couple was charged with conspiracy to launder proceeds from the 119,754 BTC stolen from Bitfinex. On August 3, 2023, Lichtenstein and Morgan pleaded guilty. Sentencing is scheduled for November 14 and 15, 2024, respectively.

Conclusion

It is worth noting that in February 2022, a court released Morgan on bail set at $3 million. She was later spotted at several crypto conferences, raising suspicions in the community that she might have been gathering information for the government.